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above the water table. That meant that the septic tank had to sit on the ground and be covered with a mound of soil. The leach lines would be elevated and then buried by alternating layers of soil and #57 gravel. Not only was this mound system easily disguised, but the tank would be easy to find when it needed pumping out every five years or so. The problem of water supply was just as easily solved. A well sunk 42 ft. deep into the Tamiami aquifer drew the purest drinking water anyone could hope for. A simple fiberglass filter prevented calcium carbonate sediments (scale) from entering appliances such as the dishwasher and washing machine. In the end, my stubbornness paid off. A young contractor, Steve Sells, agreed to tackle the job provided he was allowed some leeway and a chance to be innovative during the course of construction. His attitude was remarkable considering that much of his previous work involved commercial buildings, churches and typical CBS homes (cinderblock homes built on concrete slabs) . Sells had little experience with wood-frame construction, particularly the sort of hybrid stickframe, post-and-beam construction my house required. Fortunately, his father Don, an experienced engineer and builder-and Sells' job-site supervisor-did. Playing off tradition-The traditional Cracker-style house (named after the early Florida settlers) was square in plan, raised on stilts and crowned with a cupola or belvedere atop a hip roof. A wide veranda, sometimes screened against mosquitoes, wrapped around all or part of the house. A main hallway originated at the front entry and bisected the house, functioning as a breezeway in the days before air-conditioning. This passage was called the "dogtrot" because the family dogs would invariably seek it out during the heat of the day. Opening off the dogtrot were the dining room, living room and bedrooms. The kitchen and bathroom were usually located away from, but attached to, the main house. That's because the kitchen generated unwanted heat and was a fire hazard, and the bathroom was usually little more than an outhouse. In designing my house, of course, I shifted the bathrooms and kitchen into the main house (drawing left) , and equipped them with modern plumbing. There is, after all, a limit to how much pioneer spirit is required in the late twentieth century. I retained the dogtrot to serve as the en- Elevation _-----------, I Dining (sleeping loft over) Study - Living o 2 64 Fine Homebuilding (dogtrot) Hall I I I Bedroom NORTH 4 8ft Plan view trance hallway. But instead of running the length of the house, it dog-legs to the left and opens into the living room. To preserve the original dogtrot effect, however, the dining room, kitchen and master bedroom still open off the hall, while an office/study connects to the hall through a pair of French doors. Two more pairs of French doors lead to screened porches off the master bedroom and dining room. A fourth pair closes off the bedroom from the dogtrot or opens in conjunction with those in the dining room to provide a breezeway through both rooms. Thus, when the windows and doors in a room are opened, the dogtrot, albeit modified, lives again . To gain a little extra floor space, I tucked a sleeping loft underneath the cathedral ceiling directly above the study. In most other respects, the house closely mimics the traditional Cracker house. True to style, there's no airconditioning. A galvanized-steel hip roof reflects much of the sun's heat away from the house. At the peak, a cupola exhausts warm air from the house, drawing replacement air into the interior through door and window openings (more on that later) . In addition, the house is raised about IO-ft. on posts, allowing cool air to collect underneath it (see FHB #40, pp. 73-77 and FHB #49, pp. 72-75) . This construction also protects against flood damage during hurricanes and allows the main waste-water drain to run downhill to the above-grade septic system. A floating foundation-Building a house over an undulating substrate of limestone caprock created a unique set of problems. Foremost among them was providing firm anchorage for the 28 10xl0 posts that would support the house. Although the caprock seemed solid enough in many places to support concrete piers, it contained numerous holes where the limestone had been dissolved by rainwater. Over the centuries these had filled in with non-compactible muck and sandy marl. In accordance with Murphy's Law, these holes in- Drawings: Vince Babak